150k mile E39 M5... daily
Discussion
It’s been an eventful couple of months for the big old beasty. After our last update I booked it in for the MOT, but had one last long-ish journey to cover before hand – a trip up to Sheffield. I’d been meaning to leave at around 4pm to get up there in decent time, but work got in the way and I didn’t hit the road until gone 7. All was well for a hundred miles or so, but when we hit the M1 I thought I noticed a little flicker in the corner of my eye.
Hmm.
A couple of miles further on, and there it was again – the battery light. Not what you want to see in the middle of the 50 limit roadworks with no hard shoulder. Arse
I managed to make it to Donington services without anything untoward happening, but unsure how long it would go whilst down on electricity I didn’t want to risk being left stranded. What followed was the worst clusterf
k of a recovery from the RAC (who will absolutely not be getting my renewal next year!), and after several hours of phone calls, chasing, not having my calls returned etc I was eventually greeted at 1.30am by a contracted recovery driver who cheerily told me he could only take me 40 miles to the next services because his hours were running out.
Great.
Still, we got the car loaded up, and trundled off
Unloading at the next services (still the wrong end of the M42!), we noticed the battery light had gone out. Hmm. This left me with a conundrum – did I want to wait until 4am (yes, you read that right) for my next flatbed, or should I risk it for a biscuit and see how far I got? Patience was wearing pretty thin at this point, so I opted for the latter.
I made it 15 miles before the battery light came back on again, so I slowed and prepared to pull into the next services in 10 or so miles time. What I then discovered was the battery light would come and go depending on engine and road speed , and – if I kept at a constant speed of 58mph in 6th – it would pretty much stay out. It was both a dull and tense drive home but eventually I made it back at about 4am, shortly after receiving a call from the second flatbed I’d cancelled, via the RAC, a couple of hours earlier. Poor guy – honestly, if this is the way they treat both their customers and contract partners the RAC really are a fking shambles.
I managed to extend my booked MOT slot to troubleshoot the issue, and as expected the alternator was found to be the culprit. This was replaced for a very reasonable price (thanks to Haynes Car Care in Wallingford, who I heartily recommend), and then put through the MOT. Which, naturally, it failed.
Still, it wasn’t as bad as I was expecting, failure reasons being both headlights pointing in the wrong direction, and the headlamp washers not working. Haynes had a furtle around and managed to sort the latter pretty easily, but the headlights were to be a little more involved. The usual E39 headlight adjuster tabs had broken – CPC had managed to repair one side which just needed adjusting, but the other was deemed too far gone for repair. Not wanting to pay the extortionate amount BMW wanted for a new headlight unit, I hit eBay and managed to find a second-hand unit described as ‘full working order.’ Naturally the adjusters were also broken, but – crucially – the threads were still intact. I picked up a set of replacement adjusters and spent an evening watching YouTube tutorials. It seems there are two options – bake the light and split off the front cover, or engage in a fiddly keyhole surgery operation going through the lamp holes. I opted for the latter.
Getting the old lamp out was pretty straightforward:
And, after a very frustrating but ultimately successful two hour operation:
Yes, it’s cleaner than the other light. No pics of the operation I’m afraid. I was in the zone
There were also a couple of advisories mentioning the start of dreaded tinwork along the sills. That’ll need some attention fairly soon, but having had a poke around it doesn’t seem too extensive just yet. I’ll chat with a couple of recommended local bodyshops and come up with a plan of attack.
So, there’s rust to sort out, horrible black wheels to refurbish, and (possibly) a clutch that will need attention soon. So I took the only logical course of action, and had these…
…chopped off, and replaced with these:
Unnecessary? Yes. Childish? Absolutely. But I don’t care, because OH MY GOD THE NOISES
Tune in for the next instalment, where I can regale you with tales of fending off neighbours with pitchforks after one too many cold starts
Hmm.
A couple of miles further on, and there it was again – the battery light. Not what you want to see in the middle of the 50 limit roadworks with no hard shoulder. Arse
I managed to make it to Donington services without anything untoward happening, but unsure how long it would go whilst down on electricity I didn’t want to risk being left stranded. What followed was the worst clusterf
k of a recovery from the RAC (who will absolutely not be getting my renewal next year!), and after several hours of phone calls, chasing, not having my calls returned etc I was eventually greeted at 1.30am by a contracted recovery driver who cheerily told me he could only take me 40 miles to the next services because his hours were running out.Great.
Still, we got the car loaded up, and trundled off
Unloading at the next services (still the wrong end of the M42!), we noticed the battery light had gone out. Hmm. This left me with a conundrum – did I want to wait until 4am (yes, you read that right) for my next flatbed, or should I risk it for a biscuit and see how far I got? Patience was wearing pretty thin at this point, so I opted for the latter.
I made it 15 miles before the battery light came back on again, so I slowed and prepared to pull into the next services in 10 or so miles time. What I then discovered was the battery light would come and go depending on engine and road speed , and – if I kept at a constant speed of 58mph in 6th – it would pretty much stay out. It was both a dull and tense drive home but eventually I made it back at about 4am, shortly after receiving a call from the second flatbed I’d cancelled, via the RAC, a couple of hours earlier. Poor guy – honestly, if this is the way they treat both their customers and contract partners the RAC really are a f
king shambles.I managed to extend my booked MOT slot to troubleshoot the issue, and as expected the alternator was found to be the culprit. This was replaced for a very reasonable price (thanks to Haynes Car Care in Wallingford, who I heartily recommend), and then put through the MOT. Which, naturally, it failed.
Still, it wasn’t as bad as I was expecting, failure reasons being both headlights pointing in the wrong direction, and the headlamp washers not working. Haynes had a furtle around and managed to sort the latter pretty easily, but the headlights were to be a little more involved. The usual E39 headlight adjuster tabs had broken – CPC had managed to repair one side which just needed adjusting, but the other was deemed too far gone for repair. Not wanting to pay the extortionate amount BMW wanted for a new headlight unit, I hit eBay and managed to find a second-hand unit described as ‘full working order.’ Naturally the adjusters were also broken, but – crucially – the threads were still intact. I picked up a set of replacement adjusters and spent an evening watching YouTube tutorials. It seems there are two options – bake the light and split off the front cover, or engage in a fiddly keyhole surgery operation going through the lamp holes. I opted for the latter.
Getting the old lamp out was pretty straightforward:
And, after a very frustrating but ultimately successful two hour operation:
Yes, it’s cleaner than the other light. No pics of the operation I’m afraid. I was in the zone
There were also a couple of advisories mentioning the start of dreaded tinwork along the sills. That’ll need some attention fairly soon, but having had a poke around it doesn’t seem too extensive just yet. I’ll chat with a couple of recommended local bodyshops and come up with a plan of attack.
So, there’s rust to sort out, horrible black wheels to refurbish, and (possibly) a clutch that will need attention soon. So I took the only logical course of action, and had these…
…chopped off, and replaced with these:
Unnecessary? Yes. Childish? Absolutely. But I don’t care, because OH MY GOD THE NOISES
Tune in for the next instalment, where I can regale you with tales of fending off neighbours with pitchforks after one too many cold starts
No probs - this is the one I ended up following: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnRPg5o45Ik
A couple of tips I also picked up:
Make sure you use the correct size one-piece Torx screwdriver - I tried using a generic socket driver with a Torx bit, but the socket join was too fat to get to the screw on the second adjuster.
Also, this is a US video - UK lights have a round plastic access panel in the top you can remove, which makes getting to the second (more fiddly) adjuster a whole lot easier. Good luck!
A couple of tips I also picked up:
Make sure you use the correct size one-piece Torx screwdriver - I tried using a generic socket driver with a Torx bit, but the socket join was too fat to get to the screw on the second adjuster.
Also, this is a US video - UK lights have a round plastic access panel in the top you can remove, which makes getting to the second (more fiddly) adjuster a whole lot easier. Good luck!
Minor update:
Hayward & Scott exhausts still sound blimmin epic, and I've managed to enjoy a very pleasant few weeks in the sun making awesome V8 noises. A few little niggles need sorting (the wiper self-park is slightly out, so I've got a replacement relay to go in, and the driver's door lock can be a bit 'lazy' at times) but overall I've had a blast for the last 10k miles
I find myself in the slightly odd situation whereby I may need to sell before it's completely 'done,' which is a shame - a house has come up for sale which is a massive punt, but if it goes through I can ill afford to have an old uber-barge to run at the same time. More on that if it happens, I guess, but it'll be a massive shame to take a bath on the costs of getting it up to scratch mechanically because I've not had time to sort the scruffy body-work out
Hayward & Scott exhausts still sound blimmin epic, and I've managed to enjoy a very pleasant few weeks in the sun making awesome V8 noises. A few little niggles need sorting (the wiper self-park is slightly out, so I've got a replacement relay to go in, and the driver's door lock can be a bit 'lazy' at times) but overall I've had a blast for the last 10k miles
I find myself in the slightly odd situation whereby I may need to sell before it's completely 'done,' which is a shame - a house has come up for sale which is a massive punt, but if it goes through I can ill afford to have an old uber-barge to run at the same time. More on that if it happens, I guess, but it'll be a massive shame to take a bath on the costs of getting it up to scratch mechanically because I've not had time to sort the scruffy body-work out
Minor fettling this weekend - the windscreen wiper self-park was gradually getting worse, to the point the wipers would bounce back up 2-3 inches before stopping. After scaring myself with the possibility of dismantling the wiper rack, I did some further Googling which suggested the wiper relay was a good place to start:
As we started - wipers in annoying 'slightly up' position. The relay is under the passenger side cabin filter:
Things were removed...
Drain was, unsurprisingly, blocked - out with the Titan!
That's the bugger!
Thank god for my bendy tool....
Great success!
As we started - wipers in annoying 'slightly up' position. The relay is under the passenger side cabin filter:
Things were removed...
Drain was, unsurprisingly, blocked - out with the Titan!
That's the bugger!
Thank god for my bendy tool....
Great success!
Er, blimey, this has been a bit quiet, hasn't it?
3 months on, I still have it, and it's still largely behaving itself. I carried out a bit of preventative maintenance a couple of months back and changed the oil separators and associated pipework, which was pretty trouble-free (aside from squeezing it through my pointlessly tiny garage doors!)
I love these intake trumpets...
Safe to say they were a bit grotty!
...and some nice clean replacements:
Since then it's been used pretty much daily, including a nice 500-mile round trip to Middlesbrough where we got a record from one tank of fuel
Yes, I know the pixels need doing!
Nearing 164k miles now, but usage will dwindle over the winter. It'll still get used, but having recently passed my B+E I'm due to pick up a Grand Cherokee which will serve excellently as a grotty-weather commuter when it's not on towing duties, saving the M5 for the occasional nice, crisp winter's day (here's hoping!).
Still a few bits to do, still loving it. I might even refurb the gopping black wheels at some point
3 months on, I still have it, and it's still largely behaving itself. I carried out a bit of preventative maintenance a couple of months back and changed the oil separators and associated pipework, which was pretty trouble-free (aside from squeezing it through my pointlessly tiny garage doors!)
I love these intake trumpets...
Safe to say they were a bit grotty!
...and some nice clean replacements:
Since then it's been used pretty much daily, including a nice 500-mile round trip to Middlesbrough where we got a record from one tank of fuel
Yes, I know the pixels need doing!
Nearing 164k miles now, but usage will dwindle over the winter. It'll still get used, but having recently passed my B+E I'm due to pick up a Grand Cherokee which will serve excellently as a grotty-weather commuter when it's not on towing duties, saving the M5 for the occasional nice, crisp winter's day (here's hoping!).
Still a few bits to do, still loving it. I might even refurb the gopping black wheels at some point
Edited by seiben on Friday 2nd November 12:32
Hereward said:
I have an 88k 2001 M5 and it's been so faultless I've barely thought about it, other than some suspension work and fluid changes.
What was the reasoning for doing the oil separators? I fancy getting stuck in to a little project.
The drain hoses were pretty gummy after all these miles so I wanted to swap them out. While it is possible to clean the separators it seemed sensible to change these as well while I was at it!What was the reasoning for doing the oil separators? I fancy getting stuck in to a little project.
Long time no update… I’ve been enjoying the car as much as possible (weather permitting!) over Christmas, before finally biting the bullet – the car has finally been dropped off to have some attention payed to its crusty undercarriage, after which it’ll be lined up for a new clutch, flywheel, RMS, prop-shaft bearing and front coupling and whatever else we find along the way… (“while we’re in there” strikes again!). Oh, and I’ll need to get the new bits of bodywork painted. And it'll need some suspension work at some point…
I have various unflattering pics of the existing crusty bits but I won’t share just yet (I’d want to be sure the chaps looking after it are happy, for starters, and I’d like to do some before-and-afters). In the next few days I should have a clear idea of how extensive the rot is and what needs to be done to resolve it once it has been attached with the flappy wheel.
In the meantime, have a couple of pics to keep the thread looking pretty
First up, a nice snap I took when I was home over Christmas. That’s my OH’s NotImpreza and my Dad’s Jag in the background. A nice round 1000bhp in that pic
And one from a couple of weeks ago: shonky Jeep in daily service at the moment.
I have various unflattering pics of the existing crusty bits but I won’t share just yet (I’d want to be sure the chaps looking after it are happy, for starters, and I’d like to do some before-and-afters). In the next few days I should have a clear idea of how extensive the rot is and what needs to be done to resolve it once it has been attached with the flappy wheel.
In the meantime, have a couple of pics to keep the thread looking pretty
First up, a nice snap I took when I was home over Christmas. That’s my OH’s NotImpreza and my Dad’s Jag in the background. A nice round 1000bhp in that pic
And one from a couple of weeks ago: shonky Jeep in daily service at the moment.
Well we now have some decent progress, so it’s time to give you some before-and-after pics! What follows may be distressing, so viewer discretion is advised… 
Going back a few weeks, I spent a long time casting around trying to find a local-ish company to me with a decent reputation, who would be able to do the required work and keep me posted as to progress. I really hit a brick wall with this and was feeling pretty despondent about the whole thing, until one afternoon I was browsing through Readers Rides and came across the fantastic thread by M. Kitchski about the rebuild of his father’s BX (it’s worth a read if you haven’t found it!). I’ve enjoyed many of his threads over the years, and he’s undeniably experienced in welding together pieces of crusty old French tin
So I pinged him a message to see if he’d be interested in getting his hands on a crusty German instead, and – well, here we are dropping off the car at Southways Automotive a couple of weeks later:
Rich has been busily beavering away and has kept me up to date with details and pics as we go along. We’re still very much mid-way, so let’s have a look at current progress…
First up, what are we starting with? Well, predictably, it’s not pretty…
Not pretty, I think you’ll agree – 165k miles and 18 winters have certainly taken their toll. That said, Rich sounded remarkably optimistic on the phone and I’m certainly glad this has been caught now and not left to fester any longer! Rich started off by dropping the propshaft and fuel tank (in which I’d thoughtfully left about 50l of V-Power…) and it was out with the grinder (I’ll let you imagine the A Team music)…
We (by which I mean, Rich) hit an interesting discovery here. The internal support for the jacking point had broken its spot welds and come loose – presumably after the sill had flexed in the past when being jacked up incorrectly – and done more damage internally. It later turned out the other side was the same. So, E39 owners – jack up your cars properly! Rich set to rebuilding…
I’ll save you all the pictures of the other side – suffice to say it was just as much work. But still, I can’t resist a before-and-after
That’s the rear pretty much done, and the front is currently in progress. Naturally that was also worse than initially thought, but the chaps at Southways seem completely unphased and are cracking on. I’ll get some more progress up over the next few days with any luck.
Going back a few weeks, I spent a long time casting around trying to find a local-ish company to me with a decent reputation, who would be able to do the required work and keep me posted as to progress. I really hit a brick wall with this and was feeling pretty despondent about the whole thing, until one afternoon I was browsing through Readers Rides and came across the fantastic thread by M. Kitchski about the rebuild of his father’s BX (it’s worth a read if you haven’t found it!). I’ve enjoyed many of his threads over the years, and he’s undeniably experienced in welding together pieces of crusty old French tin
So I pinged him a message to see if he’d be interested in getting his hands on a crusty German instead, and – well, here we are dropping off the car at Southways Automotive a couple of weeks later:
Rich has been busily beavering away and has kept me up to date with details and pics as we go along. We’re still very much mid-way, so let’s have a look at current progress…
First up, what are we starting with? Well, predictably, it’s not pretty…
Not pretty, I think you’ll agree – 165k miles and 18 winters have certainly taken their toll. That said, Rich sounded remarkably optimistic on the phone and I’m certainly glad this has been caught now and not left to fester any longer! Rich started off by dropping the propshaft and fuel tank (in which I’d thoughtfully left about 50l of V-Power…) and it was out with the grinder (I’ll let you imagine the A Team music)…
We (by which I mean, Rich) hit an interesting discovery here. The internal support for the jacking point had broken its spot welds and come loose – presumably after the sill had flexed in the past when being jacked up incorrectly – and done more damage internally. It later turned out the other side was the same. So, E39 owners – jack up your cars properly! Rich set to rebuilding…
I’ll save you all the pictures of the other side – suffice to say it was just as much work. But still, I can’t resist a before-and-after
That’s the rear pretty much done, and the front is currently in progress. Naturally that was also worse than initially thought, but the chaps at Southways seem completely unphased and are cracking on. I’ll get some more progress up over the next few days with any luck.
Well it’s safe to say Rich has been busy on the old girl. Get ready, this will be a heavy one…
First up, the front sill sections also needed extensive work. Same as the rear, the rust had paired up with collapsed jacking points which needed a lot of work (including pulling much of the interior out so it didn’t catch fire!)
Now reinforced…
And fully welded in:
Amd a bit more rust hunting under the inderseal at the rear:
And all now under 2 coats of 2k epoxy mastic, made up to replicate the OE finish (which is pretty bloody cool, if you ask me!)
While that’s been going on, there has been a certain amount of ‘while you’re in there’ at play. Poor old Rich hasn’t batted an eyelid at the amount of parts that keep showing up at his workshop
First up, clutch and flywheel removed:
Rich had to make up a SST for this (to avoid the usual M tax on the official BMW product! The spigot bearing was also a bit tired, so that was replaced along with the RMS:
Shiny new clutch & fly:
….and now time to replace most of the gear linkage:
Old clutch pivot had to be drilled out:
The release arm had cracked, so Rich built this up again with a washer welded in, then ground the inside back to solid metal:
New OE gearbox mounts while we’re in there…
More epoxy and paint up above the fuel tank (and a bit of Citroen blue paint to give the undersides a bit of colour )
Lots of crusty fuel lines replaced….
Gearbox back in:
Propshaft split:
New propshaft bearing:
‘BMW sealed for life’ gearbox oil, looking black and runny….
Exhaust and fuel tanks refitted:
…and it’s back outside for the first time in a while!!
So, what’s next? It’ll be getting some temporary paint next week on the new sill sections before I head down to collect, and I’ll most likely run around in it for a while before taking it to a ‘proper’ bodyshop to have the new sections blended in along with a new pair of rust-free front wings and a bit of general tidying up. Mostly I’m just looking forward to not driving around in a lollopy old Jeep! It will also need some suspension work at some point as well – much of it is original at 165k miles so it’s all getting a bit baggy. How long this takes will very much depend on exactly how much of a moneypit my (hopeful) new (old!) house turns out to be. Time will tell, but in the meantime I look forward to making shouty noises in it again
First up, the front sill sections also needed extensive work. Same as the rear, the rust had paired up with collapsed jacking points which needed a lot of work (including pulling much of the interior out so it didn’t catch fire!)
Now reinforced…
And fully welded in:
Amd a bit more rust hunting under the inderseal at the rear:
And all now under 2 coats of 2k epoxy mastic, made up to replicate the OE finish (which is pretty bloody cool, if you ask me!)
While that’s been going on, there has been a certain amount of ‘while you’re in there’ at play. Poor old Rich hasn’t batted an eyelid at the amount of parts that keep showing up at his workshop
First up, clutch and flywheel removed:
Rich had to make up a SST for this (to avoid the usual M tax on the official BMW product! The spigot bearing was also a bit tired, so that was replaced along with the RMS:
Shiny new clutch & fly:
….and now time to replace most of the gear linkage:
Old clutch pivot had to be drilled out:
The release arm had cracked, so Rich built this up again with a washer welded in, then ground the inside back to solid metal:
New OE gearbox mounts while we’re in there…
More epoxy and paint up above the fuel tank (and a bit of Citroen blue paint to give the undersides a bit of colour
)Lots of crusty fuel lines replaced….
Gearbox back in:
Propshaft split:
New propshaft bearing:
‘BMW sealed for life’ gearbox oil, looking black and runny….
Exhaust and fuel tanks refitted:
…and it’s back outside for the first time in a while!!
So, what’s next? It’ll be getting some temporary paint next week on the new sill sections before I head down to collect, and I’ll most likely run around in it for a while before taking it to a ‘proper’ bodyshop to have the new sections blended in along with a new pair of rust-free front wings and a bit of general tidying up. Mostly I’m just looking forward to not driving around in a lollopy old Jeep! It will also need some suspension work at some point as well – much of it is original at 165k miles so it’s all getting a bit baggy. How long this takes will very much depend on exactly how much of a moneypit my (hopeful) new (old!) house turns out to be. Time will tell, but in the meantime I look forward to making shouty noises in it again
Aaaaaaaand we are back in business!
Rich very kindly stayed late and picked me up from the station on Wednesday evening, having finished off spraying the sills, reattaching the recalcitrant undertrays and giving the car a clean inside and out. Rich insists he’s no painter, and my intention is to get the new sills ‘properly’ painted along with a couple of other bits that need attention, but having seen how decent a match he’s managed to get with rattle cans this will probably take me a while to get round to…
We had a good natter about the car and Rich’s own projects, before I jumped in and headed back up north. Apparently it had had a ticking lifter on first start-up (pretty standard for these after they’ve been sat for a while!) but this had evidently cleared the morning of collection. The first thing I noticed was just how biblically quick this thing feels after two months driving a diesel Grand Cherokee! And also, how smooth it is. Not just smoother than the Jeep (which goes without saying!), but the new clutch, flywheel and all of the prop-shaft bits that Rich replaced for me have made a massive difference. The gearchange is transformed, and an irritating buzzing I’d been getting through the gear lever has disappeared altogether. The old clutch was evidently more knackered than I thought it had been, too – quick changes at high rpm are now much more positive, there’s no hint of slip and the car feels a lot quicker as a result.
I’ve been driving it around with a massive grin on my face for the last couple of days
A few pics now it’s back home. The new rattle-can paint on the sills is actually better than the paint on much of the rest of the car!
No, I still haven’t painted the gopping wheels.
Incidentally, the car industry needs more companies like Southways Automotive and more people like Rich – he’s never moaned about the not-insignificant project creep that I’ve piled on him and he’s kept me well up to date with emails, phone calls and loads of pictures as we’ve gone on. I find it oddly reassuring, too, that a man who spends his life around TVRs and other exotica is genuinely interested in swapping stories of shonky old French hatchbacks
Rich very kindly stayed late and picked me up from the station on Wednesday evening, having finished off spraying the sills, reattaching the recalcitrant undertrays and giving the car a clean inside and out. Rich insists he’s no painter, and my intention is to get the new sills ‘properly’ painted along with a couple of other bits that need attention, but having seen how decent a match he’s managed to get with rattle cans this will probably take me a while to get round to…
We had a good natter about the car and Rich’s own projects, before I jumped in and headed back up north. Apparently it had had a ticking lifter on first start-up (pretty standard for these after they’ve been sat for a while!) but this had evidently cleared the morning of collection. The first thing I noticed was just how biblically quick this thing feels after two months driving a diesel Grand Cherokee! And also, how smooth it is. Not just smoother than the Jeep (which goes without saying!), but the new clutch, flywheel and all of the prop-shaft bits that Rich replaced for me have made a massive difference. The gearchange is transformed, and an irritating buzzing I’d been getting through the gear lever has disappeared altogether. The old clutch was evidently more knackered than I thought it had been, too – quick changes at high rpm are now much more positive, there’s no hint of slip and the car feels a lot quicker as a result.
I’ve been driving it around with a massive grin on my face for the last couple of days
A few pics now it’s back home. The new rattle-can paint on the sills is actually better than the paint on much of the rest of the car!
No, I still haven’t painted the gopping wheels.
Incidentally, the car industry needs more companies like Southways Automotive and more people like Rich – he’s never moaned about the not-insignificant project creep that I’ve piled on him and he’s kept me well up to date with emails, phone calls and loads of pictures as we’ve gone on. I find it oddly reassuring, too, that a man who spends his life around TVRs and other exotica is genuinely interested in swapping stories of shonky old French hatchbacks
Court_S said:
Those wheels really do need repainting though! They look tiny in black.
They really do, don't they?I decided I couldn't bear to look at them any longer, but I can't justify the cost right now for a full refurb. Time to break out the rattle-cans
First up, set up a
Then get the car up off its wheels:
I have to say, it's nice knowing all the jacking points are solid when you're doing this on a driveway
This is what we're starting with after a degrease and deep clean (read: session with a bucket of hot water, Fairy liquid and a scourer pad):
Then sand, clean again, mask and primer:
Three coats of Ford Mercury Grey. From Halfords. Yes, really.
Couple coats of heavy duty lacquer:
.....and done!
Before:
After:
I'm pretty happy with that, overall. They're not perfect but I've managed to avoid any weird runs in the paint or overspray. With any luck they'll last me a year or so before they flake to bits and I have to pay someone to do them properly
Took a trip down to Kent this weekend just gone - couldn't resist a quick pic of the M5 and our ratty old track car together:
Also headed over to a local car meet (Hazzard Retros - highly recommended if you're around Ashford!). Followed some friends down in their MR2s, and dwarfed them a tad I was surprised at the amount of attention it got whilst surrounded by some very lovely cars.
I've booked onto the Sunday Service at Aston Martin on Sunday if anyone here is going. I've also - somewhat optimistically - booked it in for its MOT tomorrow...
Also headed over to a local car meet (Hazzard Retros - highly recommended if you're around Ashford!). Followed some friends down in their MR2s, and dwarfed them a tad
I was surprised at the amount of attention it got whilst surrounded by some very lovely cars. I've booked onto the Sunday Service at Aston Martin on Sunday if anyone here is going. I've also - somewhat optimistically - booked it in for its MOT tomorrow...
MOT: achieved
A celebratory trip to the (excellent) PH Sunday Service at Aston Martin was called for...
...and the I spent this afternoon trying to track down the oil leak the MOT tester found
This seems likely!
I’ve taken the Vanos line off, given the washers a good clean up and put it back together. Fingers crossed that does the trip, if not I’ll get some new crush washers and try again.
A celebratory trip to the (excellent) PH Sunday Service at Aston Martin was called for...
...and the I spent this afternoon trying to track down the oil leak the MOT tester found
This seems likely!
I’ve taken the Vanos line off, given the washers a good clean up and put it back together. Fingers crossed that does the trip, if not I’ll get some new crush washers and try again.
Turfy said:
I'm enjoying your car vicariously through you. Good work...
Thank you Turfy. At this price, age and mileage it's as rewarding as it is never-ending I've given the MAFs a clean and now ordered a pair of Bosch pre-cat Lambda sensors. The idle can hunt by a couple of hundred RPM when it's warm, and I don't know when (if!) they've been changed, so this seems a good place to start.
Well I hit this milestone yesterday, so it feels like we're due an update...
Yes, I actually hit it on the way to work and didn't realise until I got in the car to go home
So, what's happened in the last 7 months? Er, not much as it happens. Remember those wheels I rattle-canned? Somewhat predictably the lacquer peeled off in sheets after a few months, so I took them to a local place to refurb. I'm not too convinced on their version of 'shadow chrome' (it's too silver to my eyes) but after they buggered me around I rather lost the will to live so they'll do for now. The finish is decent, at least.
I was also fortunate enough to make it to a meet at Caffeine and Machine a few weeks back. Somehow the organisers managed to get ~35 E39 M5s together in one place, which - given I've still yet to see another in the wild! - felt pretty special. We were in a magazine and everything!
Yes, I actually hit it on the way to work and didn't realise until I got in the car to go home
So, what's happened in the last 7 months? Er, not much as it happens. Remember those wheels I rattle-canned? Somewhat predictably the lacquer peeled off in sheets after a few months, so I took them to a local place to refurb. I'm not too convinced on their version of 'shadow chrome' (it's too silver to my eyes) but after they buggered me around I rather lost the will to live so they'll do for now. The finish is decent, at least.
I was also fortunate enough to make it to a meet at Caffeine and Machine a few weeks back. Somehow the organisers managed to get ~35 E39 M5s together in one place, which - given I've still yet to see another in the wild! - felt pretty special. We were in a magazine and everything!
Hello again everyone!
What with one thing and another the poor M5 has only covered 1500 miles since the last update - the stty winter weather meant I was driving the Jeep more and more, then we went on holiday for 3 weeks, and now we can't drive anything anywhere!
So, given I'm blessed (!) with more spare time than I had previously expected, time to give the old girl a bit of love.
First up, oil and filter change. Easy enough, I even managed not to do my usual trick of spilling oil all over the driveway
So, new filter in, sump plug back in, 6 litres of Motul's finest in the sump. What's next? Oh yeah, the oil temp sensor is on the blink so I need to fit the new one.
Bugger.
So, find a clean bucket, out with the oil (again!), and replace the gammy sensor
Next up, I replaced the pair of pre-cat lambda sensors I've been threatening to do for some time. Good thing too, by the looks of things. Not only was one clearly older than the other, they were two different brands!
Saturday's work concluded with sorting out the hazy, foggy headlights using a Holt's kit. Sanding headlights is a pretty nerve-racking thing to do (particularly halfway through!), but I must say I'm pleased with the results:
Sunday's remaining job was to replace the spark plugs. This was mercifully straightforward, but did take a while given there's 8 of the bloody things and they're all individual coils
I have to say I'm not sure how long these have been in there without looking through the service history, but my bet is a while...
I've run it up to temperature and shuffled it back and forwards on the drive. Hopefully I'll be able to drive it at some point!
What with one thing and another the poor M5 has only covered 1500 miles since the last update - the s
tty winter weather meant I was driving the Jeep more and more, then we went on holiday for 3 weeks, and now we can't drive anything anywhere! So, given I'm blessed (!) with more spare time than I had previously expected, time to give the old girl a bit of love.
First up, oil and filter change. Easy enough, I even managed not to do my usual trick of spilling oil all over the driveway
So, new filter in, sump plug back in, 6 litres of Motul's finest in the sump. What's next? Oh yeah, the oil temp sensor is on the blink so I need to fit the new one.
Bugger.
So, find a clean bucket, out with the oil (again!), and replace the gammy sensor
Next up, I replaced the pair of pre-cat lambda sensors I've been threatening to do for some time. Good thing too, by the looks of things. Not only was one clearly older than the other, they were two different brands!
Saturday's work concluded with sorting out the hazy, foggy headlights using a Holt's kit. Sanding headlights is a pretty nerve-racking thing to do (particularly halfway through!), but I must say I'm pleased with the results:
Sunday's remaining job was to replace the spark plugs. This was mercifully straightforward, but did take a while given there's 8 of the bloody things and they're all individual coils
I have to say I'm not sure how long these have been in there without looking through the service history, but my bet is a while...
I've run it up to temperature and shuffled it back and forwards on the drive. Hopefully I'll be able to drive it at some point!
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